Red Bull sure Vettel will stay despite Newey's step back

Red Bull is confident Adrian Newey's decision to take a step back from the Formula One team will not prompt Sebastian Vettel to leave the team.

Vettel's four world championships have all come in Newey-designed cars, but as of next year the Red Bull designer will start to pursue other projects outside F1. When asked about the news that next year's car would be the last to be headed up by Newey, Vettel said his focus was only on the short-term.

"Well, I think my contract's still long enough," Vettel said. "I think the only focus is on trying to catch the Mercedes. We know we have a very competitive car but not yet a very competitive package to match them and to beat them regularly. I'm looking short-term if you ask me about the future right now."

But Red Bull boss Christian Horner moved to quash speculation his star driver might start to get itchy feet.

"I think the future is extremely bright," Horner said. "Sebastian is never going to talk about what the state of his contracts are, but he's enjoyed a huge amount of success with the team and I've no doubt he will be with the team for many years to come."

Horner also stressed that Newey will still have a role in the team going forwards,

"I think we've made clear the situation with Adrian. He's taking up a different role, he's taking up a long-term agreement with Red Bull, he's not retiring completely from Formula One and he's going to be mentoring and advising a team with great strength and depth. I think it's fantastic that we will have Adrian around and access to him as the group continues to develop. It's exciting for Adrian to pursue other projects as well.

"Adrian is still going to be contributing, mentoring and advising the team. So he's still going to have a role within the team and of course he is going to be looking at some other projects that are going to be announced later in the year. There's no plan to replace Adrian with anybody else."